Mohenjodaro

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The 4,000-year-old brick ruins of the Indus civilization city of Moenjodaro, which means mounds of Dead stand on the west bank of Indus in upper Sindh. It is near to Larkana. One hour and 20 minutes from Karachi by air and 450 kms by road.

The Indus civilization flourished from 3000 BC to 1500 BC, making it contemporary with the ancient civilizations of Egypt and. Meso Potamia. At its height, it comprised at least 400 cities towns along the Indus and its tributaries, covering most of present day Pakistan. The waterways were the main highways connecting the empire.

Few of the cities excavated; what little we know of the civilization comes mostly from Moenjodaro and Harappa, the latter being 550 km to the north, near Lahore. Cats and dogs were also trained, is evident from a brick on display, in the museum at the site. Before baking, the brick was imprinted with footprints of animals.

The elaborate and efficient system of waste drainage used in the Indus cities, has excited considerable interest Drains from each house flowed first into cesspits, in which solid matter settled, then liquid waste flowed on through the carefully graded, brick-lined drains that ran down the centre of each street under a cover, pierced at the intervals with inspection holes. The sewers eventually emptied into the river.

Bathrooms in the homes of the healthy had floors of snuggly fitting bricks. Some houses had separate lavatories and some had their wells. Mother goddesses moulded of clay, were common throughout the ancient world, and those found in Mohenjodaro show that the people here were as devoted to these fertility deities as anyone else. There are famous little statues of a haughty priest king (The original is on display in the National Museum in Karachi) which indicate the existence of the ruling class of clergy, and many elaborate baths suggest ritual of bathing similar to that praised today by both Hindus and Muslims.